The Safety Codes Council exists to enable and support uniform safety codes and standards in the province of Alberta. Levies collected by the Safety Codes Council work toward supporting and educating users and local-level administrators of the safety codes system by developing training for safety codes officers, providing tracking systems for safety codes activities, and monitoring the effectiveness of the safety codes system.
Levies provide the Safety Codes Council with the majority of its funding and enable us to fulfill the duties and powers of our mandate as stated in the Safety Codes Act. A basic premise of the safety codes system in Alberta is that users should pay the cost associated with administration of the Safety Codes Act.
When a municipality chooses to become accredited it is authorized to administer the safety codes system within its boundaries. If the municipality engages an agency, the agency provides safety codes services on behalf of the municipality, which often includes the charging of fees. Municipalities and agencies may charge fees to cover the cost of administering the Safety Codes Act. For any of these permit fees, a Safety Codes Council levy must be applied.
Administration of a permit includes any and all activity associated with ensuring the terms and conditions of a permit are satisfied, including permit issuance, plans review, code advice, site inspection, verification of compliance, orders and variances and permit services reports. If a fee is charged for any of these activities it is subject to the Safety Codes Council levy.
The Quality Management Plan under which all accredited municipalities operate states that the municipality will collect the Safety Codes Council levies (operating fees) for each permit issued, and remit those monies to the Council either monthly or quarterly.
NOTE: For more information, including the definition of what constitutes a "permit fee", read the article below: Levies on Permits - What's it all about?
General information
Levies on Permits - What's it all about
Schedule of Levies 2012
Levy Remittance Overview
Levy Remittance Form
Policy document - Levies